Please post your Summary of an Academic Journal Article in your GROUP discussion area. The guidelines for the Summary of an Academic Journal Article assignment can be found here:
Summarize Journal_Article
. Remember to review the
Writing Guidelines
Actions
and the guidelines for
Citations and References in APA Style
Actions found in the Course Resources Module as you are writing your paper! A sample of excellent student work for this assignment can be found here:
Excellent Summary of Academic Journal Articl
e.
You will also respond to TWO peers’ posts in the discussion area (minimum of 150 words each). These responses are not part of your five required weekly discussions.
SOC
1
0
1 Custer
Summarize an Academic Journal Article
Objectives: to practice locating academic journal articles; to gain familiarity with the scientific method and the format of empirical academic journal articles; to practice utilizing APA style of citations and references.
Minimum Length: 750 words (not including references); put the word count at the end of your assignment; submissions that do not meet the minimum word count will automatically receive a
10
%
deduction and may be returned for revisions.
Format: See Style Guidelines located in the Module 1.
Required Citations and References: You are required to cite and reference the article you are analyzing using APA Style. Details about APA style can be found in the Style Guidelines located in the Week Zero Module.
Refer back to the article that you submitted for the Abstract assignment. Once you have received approval from the instructor to use an article, skim the article to get an idea of the topic. Now read the entire article again, focusing on answering the questions below.
NOTE: I do not expect you to understand everything in the article, especially in the results section, which may contain a lot of statistical terminology. Read for overall understanding without getting too distracted by the unfamiliar terms.
Write a brief report summarizing the research article that you read.
Your
report should be written in a standard essay format, with an introduction (stating the purpose of your paper), body, and conclusion. Be sure to answer all of the following questions in your report:
1. What is the research question(s)/purpose of the study?
2. What are some of the key findings from past literature that the author(s) discuss? How does this study differ from or build on previous ones? How does the past literature influence the current study?
3. Does the researcher have any hypotheses? If so, what are they? What are the independent and the dependent variables? If you don’t think the researcher has a hypothesis say so. You might speculate about a possible hypothesis (and accompanying independent and dependent variables) if you cannot locate a clear hypothesis.
4. Did the researcher use qualitative or quantitative methods? Specifically what type (e.g. experiment, survey, ethnography, etc…)? Explain the advantages and disadvantages of this type of method (be sure to cite sources).
5. What type of sample (e.g. random, convenience, etc…) does the researcher use? Explain what the advantages and disadvantages of this type of sample (be sure to cite sources).
6. What are the main results of the study?
7. What are some of the limitations of the study, as discussed by the author? Can you think of any additional limitations that were not mentioned? What are the strengths of this study?
NOTE: Be sure to review the Style Guidelines before submitting your report. Remember, no more than 10% of your report should be quoted material.
Grading Rubric
% |
Dimension |
Sophisticated |
Developed |
Developing |
Absent |
Your % |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
10 |
Clear understanding of author’s research question(s) |
8.5 |
7.5 |
0 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Summarizes key findings from past literature and identifies how current study is influenced by it |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Accurately identifies hypotheses and variables |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Accurately identifies the method used in the study and its advantages/disadvantages |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Accurately identifies the sampling technique used in the study and its advantages/disadvantages |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
20 |
Clearly describes the major findings of the study |
17 |
15 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Identifies key limitations of the study |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Mechanics (e.g. spelling, grammar, format, organization, cohesion and academic voice) |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Appropriate usage of citations and references in APA style |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
100 |
Your % |
Revised 3/14
Custer
1
Writing Guidelines
MECHANICS
Mechanics includes things like spacing, punctuation, grammar and spelling. This is a college-level class and as such, I expect you to follow basic mechanical conventions. Assignments that contain excessive mechanical errors will be returned for revisions.
Format:
All written assignments should be double-spaced.
Margins should be no more than 1.25 inches.
Include page numbers on all written assignments.
Include your name, the date, and the course information on all assignments.
No extra spacing between paragraphs, but do indent new paragraphs.
Font size should be 11-12 point.
Spelling: Spelling errors are usually perceived as a writer’s careless attitude towards the entire project. Don’t allow your work to be perceived in this way! Take the time to check carefully for spelling errors.
Commonly confused words:
Their/They’re/There
Affect/Effect
Than/Then
Its/It’s
To/Too/Two
e.g. (“for example”)/i.e. (“in other words”)
Punctuation: The most frequent problems that students have with punctuation are comma and semi-colon usage. You may want to review these websites to brush up on your punctuation usage.
http://grammar.about.com/od/punctuationandmechanics/tp/commaguide.htm
http://grammar.about.com/od/punctuationandmechanics/a/semicolondash.htm
AUDIENCE AND VOICE
Audience:
You should write for a wide audience, not just for your teacher. Assume your audience is other college students who are not in the class. That means that you will have to explain terminology from the course and that you must use citations and references to indicate course material (rather than referring to “our textbook”). You should also avoid writing as if you are responding to an assignment prompt (e.g. “For this assignment I decided to…..”).
For more information on writing for different audiences, visit OWL (Purdue’s On-Line Writing Lab):
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/658/04/
Voice:
In college level writing you should work on developing your own voice, rather than relying heavily on the voices of others. To do this, you should avoid quotations and try to paraphrase material in your own words. Here are some basic guidelines for uses of quoted material:
1. Avoid using too many direct quotations, particularly if they are lengthy or you can say the same thing in your own words. Reserve quotes for instances when the author’s original words have a unique impact.
2. Never simply drop a quotation into a paragraph. Use signal phrases to introduce your quotes. (see
http://academics.smcvt.edu/writingctr/Quotes.htm
for how to integrate quotes effectively).
3. Don’t expect the reader to interpret the quote for you. Explain why you think your quotes are meaningful or relevant to the rest of the paragraph.
4. Make sure you put quotation marks around other people’s words. Failure to do so is plagiarism.
5. In this class, no more than 10% of any written report should be direct quotations. Reports that exceed this limit will be returned for a rewrite and a 10% deduction will apply.
In addition to developing your own voice, you are expected to write most papers in an academic voice. This means that you should:
1. Avoid colloquialisms (slang)
2. Avoid clichés and idioms
3. Avoid repetition of words (use your thesaurus, but make sure the language you choose is language you are familiar with)
4. Avoid 1st person and 2nd person pronouns
5. Try to use the language of the discipline
PAGE
Revised 7/16
Custer 2
CITATIONS
AND REFERENCES IN APA STYLE
Many of you are used to using MLA style. In the social sciences (and often in the natural sciences) we typically use APA (American Psychological Association) style for citations and references. The reason for this is because in scientific disciplines it is very important to carefully document where you got your information. APA is more detailed than MLA style.
If you are not used to APA style, my request for you to use it for citations and references may seem somewhat arbitrary and unreasonable, at first. However, please trust that being able to adapt your writing style (including citations/references) to your audience is an important outcome of college-level writing. Moreover, being able to cite and reference in APA style with some degree of accuracy is an important outcome in the Social Science Distribution Area at Cascadia (and many other colleges). APA style might seem frustrating at first, but with a little practice, it is easy to master!
In APA style there are both in-text citations and a list of references (a.k.a. works cited). The in-text citation comes in the body of your paper. The references or works cited come at the end of your paper. It is important to remember that in APA anything that is cited must also be listed in your references (and vice versa).
Citations and References for Various Sources
1. Journal articles
Citation:
The authors argue that there is a correlations between study styles and grades (Kahn & Wanamaker, 1998).
Reference:
Kahn, L. & Wanamaker, D. (1998). The effects of study styles on the grades of students. Journal of Normal Psychology, 3, 220-223.
Note: Only the first word in the article’s title (and subtitle, if there is one) is capitalized.
2. Articles in an anthology (or edited book)
Citation:
Cite the author(s) of the specific reading, but the year of the anthology. For instance, if you wish to use something from the reading, “Missing in Interaction” originally written by Sadker and Sadker in 1994 but later published in an anthology edited by Ferguson in 2006, your citation would look like this: (Sadker & Sadker, 2006).
Reference:
Sadker, M. & Sadker, D. (2006). Missing in Interaction. In S.J. Ferguson (Ed.) Mapping the Social Landscape (pp. 310-312). Boston: McGraw-Hill.
Note: The reference for a reading in anthology should have the author’s name first (not the editor’s). The date should be the date the anthology was published.
3. Website
Citation:
To cite a specific part of a website, indicate the page, chapter, or table. For electronic sources that do not provide page numbers, use the paragraph number, preceded by the paragraph symbol or the abbreviation “para”. If neither paragraph nor page numbers are visible, cite the heading and the number of the paragraph following it to direct the reader to the location of the material. E.g. (Myers, 2000, ¶ 5) or (Beutler, 2000, Conclusion section, para. 1).
If there is no discernible author of the material, use the first two or three words of the work’s title. If there is no discernible date, use “n.d.” instead of a date.
Reference:
At a minimum, a reference of an Internet source should provide a document title/description, a date of retrieval, and an address (URL). If possible, identify the authors of a document as well.
Author, A. A. (2000). Title of work. Retrieved month day, year, from source (URL).
If there is no discernible author of the material, use the first two or three words of the work’s title. If there is no discernible date, use “n.d.” instead of a date.
4. PPT
Citation:
Follow the same general format using the author’s name and the year of the presentation (in most cases I have the date the presentation was created on the slides for this course).
Reference:
Roberts, K. F. (1998). Federal regulations of chemicals in the environment [PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from
http://siri.uvm.edu/ppt/40hrenv/index.html
5. Newspaper article
Citation:
For newspaper articles cite the author and year, as you would with any other source. If there is no author listed, use the first few words of the title of the article.
The study found the health-care initiative to be very successful (Successful health-care, 2015)
Reference:
For online newspaper sources use the format below. If you have a printed newspaper you will include a page number instead of a URL.
Successful health-care initiative looks to expand. (2015, September 9). Duluth News Tribune. Retrieved from http://www.duluthnewstribune.com
6. Books
Citation:
Frustration is often a precursor to aggression (Gruner & Robinson, 1990).
Reference:
Gruner, J. & Robinson, C. (1990). Studies in frustration (3rd ed.). Bellevue, WA: Laboratory Press.
Note: Only the first word in the book’s title (and subtitle, if there is one) is capitalized.
7. Images
If you are using images from sources other than Microsoft’s stock images, then you do need a citation. For this class it is sufficient if you include the name of the image and the URL of the site where you retrieved it. Check APA guidelines for more details.
8. Secondary Sources
A secondary source is something that you haven’t read yourself, but that is cited by someone else that you are reading. In this case, you will rely primarily on the source that you are reading, but give mention to the other source. This is what the format looks like if, for example, you are reading a work by Coltheart et al. and they mention if Seidenberg and McClelland’s work, which you have not personally read.
Citation:
In Seidenberg and McClelland’s study (as cited in Coltheart, Curtis, Atkins, & Haller, 1993)
Reference:
Coltheart, M., Curtis, B., Atkins, P., & Haller, M. (1993). Models of reading aloud: Dual-route and parallel-distributed-processing approaches. Psychological Review, 100, 589-608.
FAQ’s
1. What is a citation and when do I need one?
Citations (sometimes called “in-text citations”) are used in the body of the report and indicate where your information comes from. You should provide a citation for anything that came from an outside source or is not general knowledge, even if it is not a direct quote!
The citation is only a brief mention of the source (the complete details will be provided in the references at the end of your paper).
The format for the citation might depend on the type of source you are using, but in most cases, the citation should include the author(s) last name and the year of publication.
As a rule of thumb, it’s better to over cite than to under cite!
2. What is a reference and when do I need one?
A reference provides the complete information for any source that was cited in the body of your paper. References are placed at the end of the essay on a separate page entitled “References” or “Works Cited” (your choice). You must compile a complete list of all the materials you cited in the essay on your reference page.
NOTE: APA is different than MLA in anything listed in the references must have a citation in the paper. Similarly, anything cited in the paper must be listed in the references.
3. Is the citation format different for direct quotes and paraphrased material?
Yes! The page number is added when you have a citation for a direct quote. It is not needed for paraphrased material.
Citation for paraphrased material (not a direct quote):
Nonmaterial culture consists of: Symbols, language, norms, values, and beliefs (McIntyre, 2002).
Note: There is no page #, just the author’s last name and the year of the publication.
Citation for direct quotes:
“We can divide nonmaterial culture into five basic categories: Symbols, language, norms, values, and beliefs” (McIntyre, 2002, p. 95).
Note: Place end quotation marks before the citation and include the page #.
4. Do I have to list all the authors of the material in the citation?
If a text has 2 authors, always cite both names.
If a text has 3-5 authors, cite all the authors the first time; in subsequent cites include only the last name of the first author followed by “et al.” and the year. 1st citation: (Wasserstein, Zappulla, Rosen, Gerstman, and Rock, 1994). 2nd citation: (Wasserstein, et al., 1994). List all the authors in the references.
If the text has 6+ authors, cite only the first author followed by “et al.” and the year for all citations. List all the authors in the reference.
3. What is the proper order for references?
Put references in alphabetical order according to the first author’s last name. You should not number them (or use bullets).
4. What is the proper spacing for references?
Single-space within references, double-space between them. Use “hanging indents” for all references. Hanging indents means your first line is not indented, but subsequent lines are.
Additional Resources on APA Style:
1. One of the best sources for writing in general and APA style in particular is the Online Writing Lab out of Purdue:
owl.english.purdue.edu
2. There is an APA style guide located on our library website.
http://libguides.uwb.edu/content.php?pid=75218&sid=563841
3. Another good source for APA style is the APA website:
http://apastyle.apa.org/
4. Diana Hacker’s Rules for Writers (6th Edition) is an excellent resource for APA style as well as a number of other stylistic issues.
Revised 3/17